1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of preparing a shaped rice food including so-called "onigiri", and more particularly to a method of preparing a shaped rice food presenting various tastes and flavors which the conventional shaped rice food is unable to present.
In general, "onigiri" (Japanese rice ball food), or a shaped rice food, is prepared by manually compressing a boiled rice into a desired shape, with suitable ingredients such as a pickled plum, a piece of salmon and a cod roe contained therein and lauer coated on the surface, as desired. In some cases, a boiled rice is housed in a mold of a desired shape and compressed for preparing "onigiri" of a desired shape. The resultant "onigiri" is not deformed if held in a hand in the eating step. It should be noted that the bonding strength among the rice grains serves to retain the shape of "onigiri" of the general type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The taste and flavor of "onigiri" may be improved by adding suitable ingredients and soups to the boiled rice. But, the addition of an excessive amount of ingredients and soups weakens the bonding strength among the rice grains, failing to retain the shape of "onigiri" and resulting in restriction of the taste and flavor presented by "onigiri" of the general type.
There are various kinds of rice-based food including, for example, "tendon", or a bowl of rice topped with a fried prawn and the like, "unadon", or a bowl of rice topped with roasted eel, a chinese dish of fried rice, and curried rice. Either of these kinds of food presents its peculiar taste and flavor produced by the ingredients and soups disposed on the surface of the boiled rice. It is interesting to prepare a shaped rice food, or "onigiri" which presents the taste and flavor of the rice-based food mentioned above. However, it is impossible to prepare "onigiri" with a sufficient amount of, for example, soup added to the boiled rice. Naturally, the surfaces of the rice grains are covered with the soup if the soup is added in a sufficient amount, resulting in so much reduction in the bonding strength among the rice grains that it is impossible to prepare "onigiri" of a desired shape. It is possible to retain the required bonding strength among the rice grains if the amount of soup is suitably restricted. But, in this case, the resultant "onigiri" is incapable of presenting a desired taste and flavor.